What key upgrades have mainstream DeFi applications on TRON achieved in 2025?

As the financial core engine of the Tron ecosystem, the DeFi sector achieved a leapfrog upgrade in 2025, evolving from a basic financial function provider to an ecological value hub. Through the continuous iteration and innovative expansion of mainstream applications like JustLend DAO, SUN.io, BTTC, and WINkLink, it has built a secure, efficient, decentralized financial service system characterized by innovative vitality and synergistic capabilities.

The lending protocol JustLend DAO, as the core vehicle for asset appreciation within the Tron ecosystem, has not only become the primary gateway for traditional compliant capital to enter the Tron ecosystem but has also deeply bound token value to protocol revenue and ecosystem growth through the implementation of a large-scale JST buyback and burn mechanism, forming a robust value closed loop.

The core liquidity hub SUN.io achieved significant expansion in its business structure. On one hand, its Meme coin launch platform SunPump continues to ignite ecosystem enthusiasm, activating market liquidity and serving as a core engine for ecosystem traffic growth. On the other hand, the newly launched decentralized perpetual contract platform SunX successfully filled the gap in ecosystem derivative services, synergizing with the existing spot business to build a diversified service matrix of "spot trading + derivative hedging + innovative asset issuance," comprehensively enhancing the breadth and depth of liquidity services.

The cross-chain protocol BTTC made breakthrough progress in cross-chain transfer efficiency and security. In June, it completed a major upgrade to version 2.0, reconstructing the underlying logic through a modular layered architecture to standardize cross-chain processes and improve efficiency. Simultaneously, it optimized the BTT token economic model by reducing the total supply to enhance scarcity. This not only improved network security protection capabilities but also injected sustained momentum into the token's long-term value, solidifying its role as the core value transmission infrastructure connecting the Tron ecosystem with multi-chain ecosystems.

The oracle infrastructure WINkLink continuously broadened the reach of its data services through technological upgrades and ecosystem resource integration, providing crucial and reliable foundational data support for the diversified application deployment and scaled development of the Tron ecosystem.

Leveraging the systematic breakthroughs achieved by mainstream DeFi applications across multiple dimensions—value capture, business matrix construction, cross-chain interoperability, and foundational data support—the Tron DeFi ecosystem has not only strengthened the synergistic effects and value circulation loops among its internal components but has also solidified its foundational capabilities as a next-generation decentralized financial hub, unleashing a continuous stream of innovative vitality.

DeFi Value Deepens Continuously: JST Large-Scale Buyback & Burn; SUN.io Adds Derivative SunX; BTTC Optimizes Token Model; WINkLink Expands Service Scenarios

JustLend DAO: From Lending Protocol to Ecosystem Value Hub

As the core pillar of the Tron ecosystem's financial infrastructure, JustLend DAO has achieved a leapfrog development from a lending protocol to an ecosystem value hub through continuous functional integration and strategic upgrades, building a full-chain decentralized financial solution integrating asset lending and appreciation, staking services, Gas cost optimization, and more.

Currently, JustLend DAO has completed deep integration of multiple core DeFi modules, forming a unified product matrix covering the lending market (SBM), liquid staking sTRX (Staked TRX), and Energy Rental, providing users with comprehensive and diversified on-chain financial services. Users can fulfill all-scenario financial needs—such as SBM lending, TRX network staking, and energy rental to reduce on-chain Gas costs—on the single JustLend DAO platform without cross-platform operations, thereby comprehensively improving capital efficiency and interaction experience.

Beyond core products, JustLend DAO, with a focus on user experience, innovatively launched the GasFree smart wallet in March this year, allowing users to deduct fees directly from transferred tokens, breaking the industry limitation of "needing to hold native tokens to transact." Additionally, JustLend DAO simultaneously launched a 90% transfer fee subsidy campaign, meaning users actually pay only about 1 USDT in fees per GasFree USDT transfer (regardless of amount).

In mid-October, JustLend DAO formally implemented a large-scale JST buyback and burn mechanism, explicitly allocating all protocol net income and a portion of USDD multi-chain ecosystem revenue exceeding $10 million in full to the JST buyback and burn fund pool. Subsequently, JustLend DAO extracted approximately $59.087 million from existing revenue to initiate the first round of burns, executing the first phase at a 30% ratio (approx. $17.726 million), corresponding to the burning of 559.8 million JST tokens, accounting for 5.66% of the total token supply; the remaining 70% will be executed quarterly in installments.

This buyback and burn initiative fundamentally optimized JST's economic model: on one hand, by actively reducing the circulating supply, it strengthens token scarcity through a deflationary effect, solidifying long-term value support; on the other hand, it achieves deep binding between ecosystem revenue and token holder interests.

Regarding asset trading channels, JST continued to deepen its layout. In April, compliant exchange Kraken listed JST/USD and JST/EUR spot trading pairs, followed by Binance listing JST/USDT perpetual contracts, with exchanges like Lbank following suit, significantly enhancing asset liquidity and market recognition.

In the process of bridging traditional finance and the on-chain ecosystem, JustLend DAO also achieved breakthrough progress. As early as the end of June this year, Tron, a US-listed company, completed a staking operation of 365 million TRX through the JustLend DAO platform. This milestone event not only fully validated the platform's industry-leading level in compliance, security, and large-asset handling capabilities but also established JustLend DAO's position as the core channel for traditional compliant capital to enter the Tron ecosystem.

As of December 19, the Total Value Locked (TVL) on the JustLend DAO platform has reached $6.37 billion, consistently ranking among the top three global lending protocols. Within this, the Supply asset size in the SBM lending market reached $3.92 billion; the sTRX liquid staking sector attracted over 9.2 billion TRX; and the Energy Rental service, due to its utility, has covered 72,000 users. These figures fully attest to the platform's strong ecosystem value and broad user recognition.

SUN.io: Innovative Evolution and Ecosystem Expansion of the Liquidity Hub

As the largest asset issuance and trading hub within the Tron ecosystem, SUN.io successfully built a complete product matrix covering four core businesses—DEX trading, stablecoin swapping, Meme asset issuance, and derivative contracts—through continuous product innovation and iteration in 2025, becoming the key liquidity infrastructure supporting the efficient flow of assets within the Tron ecosystem.

Currently, the SUN.io ecosystem encompasses product components such as the DEX platform SunSwap, stablecoin swap platforms SunCurve and PSM, the Meme issuance tool SunPump, and the decentralized perpetual contract platform SunX (formerly SunPerp), enabling one-stop access to multi-scenario financial trading services.

In 2025, SUN.io's core businesses flourished across multiple fronts: its Meme coin launch platform SunPump continuously activated market liquidity; the newly added decentralized perpetual contract platform SunX filled the derivative gap, synergizing with the existing spot business to build a diversified service matrix of "spot + derivatives + innovative asset issuance," comprehensively enhancing the breadth and depth of liquidity services.

In the core trading scenario, SunSwap handles approximately 90% of the asset trading volume on the Tron network, with daily trading volume consistently stable above $100 million, providing an efficient channel for capital circulation within the ecosystem. According to official data, on December 30, the value of crypto assets locked in SunSwap liquidity pools was approximately $480 million, with over 25,700 pools created, and the trading volume processed in the past 7 days exceeded $420 million.

On the innovative asset front, SunPump, with its low-barrier issuance tools and full-chain empowerment system, continuously activates the vitality of the Meme asset ecosystem, repeatedly igniting market enthusiasm and becoming a core engine for ecosystem traffic growth.

In the derivatives track, SUN.io重磅 launched SunX, the Tron ecosystem's first native on-chain perpetual contract platform, in September 2025. It not only filled the gap in ecosystem derivative services but also redefined the DeFi derivatives service paradigm with institutional-grade risk control standards and low-latency trading experience. According to the latest operational data, SunX's cumulative trading volume has surpassed $16 billion, successfully ranking among the top eleven in the global decentralized perpetual contract赛道.

At the token value construction level, the SUN token continues to deepen its deflationary model relying on the revenue buyback mechanism. To date, the cumulative burn of SUN tokens has approached 650 million, with 362 million from SunSwap V2 revenue buybacks and 285 million from SunPump revenue buybacks, highlighting the持续 deflationary effect.

Simultaneously, the global trading布局 of the SUN token progressed steadily: in March, it listed on the Hong Kong compliant exchange Hashkey Global, taking a key step towards合规化; in April, it listed on the globally renowned exchange Kraken, significantly enhancing international market liquidity and brand influence; in September, it listed SUN/KRW and SUN/USDT trading pairs on the leading Korean exchange Upbit, with the price surging up to 28% on the listing day, quickly activating incremental demand in the Korean market. These布局 not only大幅提升 SUN's compliance recognition but also极大增强 its market liquidity and global influence.

From DEX trading to Meme ecosystem building, and to开拓 the derivatives market, SUN.io has built diversified growth curves through continuous product innovation and scenario expansion.

Furthermore, SUN.io is酝酿 a series of important upgrades, with related progress expected to be announced gradually in the near future.

BTTC: Upgrade Iteration and Token Deflation for Cross-Chain Interconnection

As the core hub of cross-chain infrastructure within the Tron ecosystem, the cross-chain protocol BTTC completed a series of strategic upgrade iterations in 2025, achieving breakthrough improvements in both network security and cross-chain transfer efficiency.

In June this year, BTTC officially upgraded to version 2.0, reconstructing the underlying cross-chain technical architecture through modular layering and standardized process decomposition design. This version transforms the cross-chain process of "source chain request initiation – information transmission – target chain execution" into a universal logic and standardized protocol, correspondingly establishing a three-layer architecture: Root Contracts (root chain layer: cross-chain request initiation) – Delivery (relay layer: information transmission) – BitTorrent Chain (execution layer: DApp application运行 platform layer), and adopts a PoS consensus mechanism. Ultimately, BTTC构建出一个 secure, efficient, and scalable cross-chain network, providing a solid technical foundation for asset flow and application synergy across multiple chains.

Simultaneously, BTTC 2.0 also optimized the core economic model of the BTT token: by adjusting the total supply, it reduced the total BTT supply to enhance token scarcity; and set a stable staking基准收益率 of 6%, allowing BTT holders to participate in network governance and security维护 through staking. This design既提升了 BTTC network node participation enthusiasm and network防护能力, and injected sustained momentum into BTT's long-term value.

On July 29, BTTC further launched an upgraded Layer 2 scaling solution aimed at improving network scalability and user experience while maintaining decentralization. This solution is compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem, supports seamless migration of existing applications, and provides users with a high-throughput, low-cost trading environment.

Relying on continuous technological innovation iteration and生态协作, BTTC has upgraded into a core hub for multi-chain value interconnection: externally, it打通 asset transfer channels between Tron and主流公链 like Ethereum and BNB Chain, attracting external capital, projects, and users to efficiently flow into the Tron ecosystem. Internally, it provides cross-chain流通出口 for Tron-based Meme assets, DeFi products, etc., helping them expand to other公链生态 markets, achieving跨域辐射 of ecosystem influence.

WINkLink: The Data Bridge Connecting On-Chain and Off-Chain Worlds

As the core oracle infrastructure of the Tron ecosystem, WINkLink empowers DApps with real-time off-chain data, providing accurate price feeds and verifiable random numbers, building a trust bridge between blockchain and the real world. With WINkLink, developers can access precise price data and on-chain information, thereby enhancing the security and reliability of on-chain applications like DeFi.

In August this year, WINkLink announced the completion of a comprehensive ecosystem upgrade, officially opening to global developers. This upgrade will provide higher security等级, more reliable, and scalable on-chain data services for diversified application scenarios on the TRON network, including DeFi, NFT, and RWA.

This year, WINkLink has integrated with dozens of CEXs and wallets: in the exchange赛道, there are MEXC, CoinEX, WEEK, etc.; in wallet integration, WINkLink has established深度合作 with multi-chain wallets GuardaWallet, Atomic Wallet, Klever, and hardware wallets ELLIPAL, OneKey, etc., providing users with more secure and smooth Web3 self-custody and on-chain experiences, jointly推动 the scaled application of the TRON ecosystem.

DeFi Ecosystem Deepens Its Advance, Tron Solidifies Its Core Role in Global Financial Infrastructure

In summary, mainstream Tron DeFi applications like JustLend DAO and SUN.io achieved systematic upgrades across multiple dimensions in 2025: in value capture, mechanisms like the JST buyback and burn deeply bound token value to ecosystem revenue; in business matrices, protocols like SUN.io expanded from spot to derivatives and asset issuance, building a complete service闭环; in cross-chain interconnection, BTTC 2.0 improved efficiency and security through architectural and token model upgrades; in foundational data, infrastructure like WINkLink continuously provided highly reliable data support. These upgrades not only strengthened the internal value循环 and synergistic efficiency of the ecosystem but also, from an infrastructure层面, consolidated Tron's core position as a next-generation DeFi hub, stimulating innovative vitality and laying a solid foundation for the ecosystem's long-term healthy development.

According to DeFiLlama data, as of December 25, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi on the Tron chain exceeded $4.4 billion, consistently ranking among the top five global public chains. This data既彰显了 the solid foundation and强劲韧性 of the Tron DeFi ecosystem and reflects the market's high recognition of its technical strength, ecosystem布局, and future potential.

Currently, Tron has built a clearly分工,协同高效的 DeFi infrastructure matrix: SUN.io作为 the liquidity core, provides efficient capital exchange and流转 services; JustLend DAO, as the lending hub, facilitates capital appreciation and配置优化; BTTC承担 the cross-chain hub职责, ensuring自由流通 of funds across chains; the WINkLink oracle empowers DApps with real-time off-chain data, enhancing the security and reliability of DeFi applications. These four core applications协同发力,构建 a "liquidity supply - asset增值 - cross-chain互通 - security赋能" multi-dimensional integrated service system, providing坚实支撑 for ecosystem development.

Empowered by this全链路, high-synergy DeFi infrastructure matrix, core resources within the Tron ecosystem—assets, users, and applications—have achieved深度整合 and高效联动. The four core modules of liquidity, lending, cross-chain, and data seamlessly协作, jointly driving the持续增长 of ecosystem value and optimal resource配置, propelling Tron to steadily advance as a core benchmark for the next generation of global financial infrastructure.